13 reviews of this school

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Texas Tech High School4

Posted April 02, 2014
- a parent

My son transitioned from our local area high school to Texas Tech High School during his Sophomore year. The curriculum is challenging and excellent for college prep. My son was in AP classes in our local area high school and he found the Texas Tech High School curriculum to be more challenging and found there were gaps from AP courses he had taken prior to enrolling. Although teachers are not available immediately to answer questions, the feedback given on graded assignments is in great detail to ensure the student learns and improves as the courses progress. Some students may need more parental assistance to succeed at this school. Our Counselor has been outstanding to work with and has provided guidance from enrollment to date. As a parent, I am confident my son's transition to college will be much easier after graduating from Texas Tech High School.

My son took this course and had so many questions, but could get very few answers. He started the course in Jun and finished in Aug with very little help from the teacher! In Nov, he received the introductory letter explaining how the course works, what is expected from the teacher, etc. It totally invalidated the whole class, as he didn't know he could retake assignments, know what was expected from the teacher, etc. In Jan, the teacher wrote and said she had finally reviewed one of his assignments, five months after he finished the course. I have called and asked to speak with the principal as there is an obvious problem with their communication, but as of yet have not received a call. It has been over a month since I first called. I have asked for our money back, as I do not feel this is even a valid course, but have been told that because he finished the course, they will not refund money even though they messed up. I do not recommend this school if this is how they run their classes and don't seem to care to correct their mistakes.

I have been using this curriculum with my daughters for 10 years now. I am a certified teacher in Texas, and taught for 6 years in a public school before leaving to homeschool my daughters. The advantages of this program is that your student will be learning at an accredited school that is recognized by the TEA. They will be taking the same exit test (TAKS for my oldest and STAAR for my youngest) and when they apply for college, or if they do transfer to a public school they will receive full credit for what they have done. As a word to those who like to complain about the way the courses are structured and how the final exams count towards grading. You and your student will need a large measure of self-discipline to complete the coursework, i.e. you will not be able to sit your child in another room and say "do it". Shockingly you will need to be involved and teach them. As a standard of measure my oldest took the TAKS last year at our local public school and scored "Commended" on all sections, and took the ACT as a junior and score in the top 10% nationally. She has already been admitted to college. This is her 10th year at TTUISD. You get what you put into it.

If you have other options TAKE THEM! There are several other online schools which are free and have to be better. You essentially are on your own at Texas Tech High School. There is nothing positive I can say. They take your money, give you the assignments and litlle more. Our instructor did not reply to questions about assignments--I had to call and complain to get him to reply back to my emails. Turn around time is supposed to be 5 days. I waited 2 weeks and then had to call to get assignments graded. The MOODLE grading system does not work properly-had to get grades adjusted several times. Went into the final with a 98 average but did not pass the final so too bad, so sad. I do not believe the final was graded correctly but was unable to get it reviewed by TTHS. THE FINAL IS ALL THAT COUNTS!!!!! A whole semesters's work and time just wasted. BAD, BAD, BAD experience.

Word to the wise: They are NOT recognized by the NCAA...if your child is an athlete....beware! We have taken one semester of a course through this school, and it has been a nightmare. The instructor grades very harshly, offers no feedback, and holds grudges if you question anything. My kid had a 98 average going into the final, yet failed the course due to getting a 45 on the final exam. Sounds fishy to me, but they won't show us the graded test. We don't recommend this school.

If you can avoid this school, you might want to. It has been terrible so far; will post to let you know how it ends up. We found so many careless mistakes on the tests. Yes, the TESTS! Instructor takes a long time to answer, as in days, and basically just wants to be left alone. The hassle and pain is not worth the money you may save by going cheap here. Maybe the management will clean up the mess, but the teacher? Wow, she even insulted my daughter because my daughter dared to question something on the test. The test was flat out wrong and all the instructor has to say is it "baffles" her! These teachers are doing this on the side from their regular teaching jobs and they are inattentive, probably overtaxed, certainly rude. This place is not for anyone who cares if they get the material correct. If you just want filler for transcripts, well I guess you could do this, but if your child follows through and cares if the tests are graded wrong, well don't do this to them.

This school is not for everyone. I thought this school would be good for my child but after sign up for the class I saw that the student has to pass the Final exam in order to pass the class. If I knew this beforehand I would not have signed my child up for this school. This is very unfair to the students that don t test well. If your child has anxiety with test do not enroll in this school. It will be a big disappoint and a waste of money. If your child is good at passing test then this school if for you.

I would strongly recommend against this school if your child has test anxiety or has any learning disability. Homeschooled students who don't have a 504 plan or IEP may struggle with the final exam and I don't want you to experience the same heartbreak and frustration my daughter had. She suffers from dyslexia and it is difficult to keep facts and figures organized in her head. She did very well on the class projects and quizzes (had a 94% going into the final). She spent over 100 hours on these projects and text reading. After asking for guidance from the instructor as to what to study for the final exam, she basically told her to re-read the 400 pages of text and memorize everything in it. We did the best to have her prepared (studying 12 hours for the final) only to have her receive a 60% on the test. Because you need to score over 70% on the final, she failed the class!! I have a masters in teaching and taught high school myself and was beyond disappointed that they gave her a failing grade in a class that she gave so much time and effort to!

My son has struggled in the public schools for a period of time now and is doing this program in the beginning struggled with this but as he started completing more courses he has just bloomed and in 1 day did 3 lessons I think that this is a no hassle program with alot of oppurtunity. Deena W.